Becoming familiar with the meridians

[Guest guest]

Meridians/ channels are pathways of energy flow.

 

It's a good idea to invest in some charts or books showing the meridians. Very

often pain, numbness, soreness, sensations of heat or cold, and other sensations

along the course of a meridian will be an important clue to problems in that

particular system.

 

In vol. 1 Wicke gives the example of people with gallbladder problems frequently

will experience aching pains between the the 4th and 5th metatarsal (bone of the

feet). The Gallbladder meridian follows this course.

 

In my own case, from time to time, I experience a soreness in the middle of the

soles of my feet. This is the K 1 (Kidney 1) acupuncture point. I've learned

from many years experience that this soreness in the middle of the soles of my

feet or in one foot precedes a flare-up of some recurring infection problems I

have. I've learned to start taking precautions when that soreness appears. By

paying attention to this soreness and taking precautions, I've been able not

only to reduce the severity of flare-ups and even prevent them, but also to

reduce the frequency of the flare-ups by quite a bit.

 

The diagnostic techniques of TCM often will reveal problems long before they can

be picked up by lab tests. Over the years I've learned that I can tell when an

infection is building and getting ready to flare up again before evidence of it

shows up in blood work. Over the years I've also learned that it's a lot easier

and quicker to treat this recurring infection in the beginning stages than

waiting until it's established enough to show up in blood work. Also, by being

able to identify and treat it early, I've been able to reduce the frequency of

this problem by quite a bit. I've lowered my tendency to have this problem.

 

There's a very good book for people new to the concepts of acupuncture (uses

needles inserted into points) and acupressure (uses pressure applied to points).

It's Acupressure's Potent Points: A Guide to Self-Care for Common Ailments by

Michael Reed Gach. In an ideal situation people in every community would have

access to a trained and competent acupunturist. A trained acupunturist obviously

can fine-tune treatment. But until that ideal situation arrives, using

acupressure on yourself can help to alleviate some health problems and increase

your resistence.

 

Unfortunately, the book does not contain diagrams of the courses of the

meridians. The book's strength is that through the use of both diagrams and

pictures, it's the best guide I've found to where certain points are located.

It's also a very good book to start getting acquainted with some of the points

and what they do.

 

In the U.S. you can request your local library to order in this or any other

book through a service called interlibrary loan. It's free. If your local

library doesn't have a copy, it will send out a notice all over the U.S. to

borrow the book from another library system.

 

If you try some of the points listed for a particular ailment, you'll probably

find that some of them work better than others for you and that some of them

don't work at all or may even cause discomfort. This is to be expected because

this is not the same thing as seeing a trained acupunturist or acupressurist who

has years of experience and who can perform an exact diagnosis. Go with what

works for you.

 

One thing you will encounter as you start to learn and practice on yourself is

that pressing some points will trigger sensations in other areas of the body.

For example, you may press a point on your legs and feel a twinge in your side

in the area of the liver.

 

Pay attention to any points that are sore. Often you may be unaware that a point

is sore until you start to press on it. In other cases - like what happens to me

with the K 1 point - you don't have to press on it to know it's sore.

 

Sometimes what works for an individual will not be found in any of the more

available literature. For example, I used to have almost constant headaches that

could get very severe. At their worst an injection of Demerol in the emergency

room wouldn't even stop one of these headaches. In addition to the severe pain,

there also was nausea and sensitivity to light. What finally enabled me to knock

the pain out within seconds or minutes and also reduced my tendency to have the

headaches was the SI 3 (Small Intestine 3) point.

 

This is not a point that is listed in any of the literature available to me that

you use to get rid of a headache. Yet, it works very well for me. The way I

found it is that after I got familiar with the course of meridians, I realized

that from time to time I was having sensations of pain, numbness, and cold along

various segments of the SI meridian. I also realized that these sensations got

more severe prior to a headache getting very severe. When I pressed the SI 3

point the headache immediately started to lessen. I also discovered that this

particular point not only got rid of the headache, it got rid of TMJ pain that

frequently accompanied the worst headaches. (Note: SI 3 also is not one of the

standard points for TMJ problems, but it works for me. For other individuals

some of the standard points for TMJ would work for them whereas SI 3 probably

wouldn't.)

 

Victoria

 

 

 

 

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[Guest guest]

Victoria,

 

Here is a link to an acupressure site:

http://falcon.cc.ukans.edu/~moriarty/acupressure/acuguide.html

 

Can you recommend books that show the meridians? I'm very interested in

learning more.

 

Lynn

 

 

 

victoria_dragon <victoria_dragon

Chinese Traditional Medicine <Chinese Traditional Medicine >

Tuesday, February 29, 2000 10:36 AM

[Chinese Traditional Medicine] Becoming familiar with the meridians

 

 

> " victoria_dragon " <victoria_dragon

>

>Meridians/ channels are pathways of energy flow.

>

[Guest guest]

>Here is a link to an acupressure site:

>http://falcon.cc.ukans.edu/~moriarty/acupressure/acuguide.html

 

Thanks, but I hadn't been able to access it. I get a page unavailable message

and the original link, but it doesn't work either.

 

>Can you recommend books that show the meridians? I'm very interested in

>learning more.

 

The reason I'm so late answering this is I've been trying to find one which is

inexpensive but good. I have The Layman's Guide to Acupuncture, but I can't

recommend it. The drawings aren't very good, exact, or detailed; the entire

meridians aren't shown in a lot of cases; part of the illustrations are in

Chinese; and I find some of the information in the book questionable.

 

One of the best books I've found for diagnosis is The Foundations of Chinese

Medicine by Giovanni Maciocia. A lot of acupuncture schools use it as the

beginning text. I can't remember if there's pictures of the meridians or not or

how detailed. But it's an excellent book for learning diagnosis and symptoms.

Unfortunately, it's also very expensive. I believe the last time I checked

amazon.com it was $125. But you can borrow a copy through Interlibrary loan.

 

Acupressure Way of Health: Jin Shin Do by Iona Marsaa Teeguarden is good for

showing the Eight Strange Flows and for info on them, but it doesn't show the 12

organ meridians. (Of the Strange Flows, the only two that usually get used are

the Governor Vessel up the middle of the back and the Conception Vessel up the

middle of the front.)

 

BTW, Giovanni Maciocia's Tongue Diagnosis in is also highly

recommended. The last time I checked amazon.com it was going for I believe $75,

but it too is available via Interlibrary loan.

 

Victoria

 

 

 

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